Sekidera Komachi

INTRODUCTION

Komachi at Sekidera
belongs to the third category. It was probably written by Zeami, though some
authorities hesitate to make the attribution. The play is considered to be
the loftiest and most difficult of the entire No repertory. In the past century
only a few great actors at the close of their careers have ventured to perform
it. It enjoys its high reputation because it celebrates, with the most exquisite
simplicity, the bittersweet delight of being alive. Childhood, maturity,
extreme old age, the pleasure and pain of life, are immediately communicated.
The play conveys a timeless moment in the brief interval between birth and
death. Its subject is poetry. Much of the great poetry in No lies somewhat
outside the main Japanese poetic traditions, but Komachi at Sekidera is at once a superb No play and a splendid expression of the sources of Japanese poetry. The shite
role is considered so difficult because there is little an actor can add
to the text unless he is supremely gifted. During the first hour of the performance
Komachi hardly stirs.

The setting is wonderfully appropriate.
The time is the festival of Tanabata, the seventh night of the seventh month:
the one night of the year when the Cowherd star can cross the River of Heaven
to join the Weaver-girl star. On earth all are celebrating

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the lovers' brief reunion. Even at Sekidera, a place of quiet renunciation,
the priests and child acolytes are about to observe the festival. But while
talking about poetry with the aged woman who lives in a hut nearby, the abbot
of the temple discovers she is none other than Ono no Komachi.

Komachi, a woman of great beauty and literary gifts, lived at the Heian court
during the ninth century. She became a legend in later times, with many apocryphal
stories surrounding the few known biographical facts. Five No plays about
Komachi are in the present repertory; Komachi and the Hundred Nights presents another aspect of the Komachi legend, and Sotoba Komachi (translated in Keene, Anthology of Japanese Literature) ranks nearly on a level with Komachi at Sekidera.

The structure of the play is classic, and remarkable for its economy and
simplicity. Nothing jars, nothing is wasted. The moment when Komachi admits
her identity to the Abbot is particularly touching because so unaffected.

Sekidera ("The Barrier Temple") still exists at Otsu, a city east of Kyoto; its modern name is Choanji.

Komachi at Sekidera is in the repertory of all schools of No.

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PERSONS

The Abbot of Sekidera (waki):

Two Priests (wakizure):

A Child (kokata):

Ono No Komachi (shite):

PLACE

Sekidera in Omi province

TIME

The beginning of autumn: the seventh day of the seventh month

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KOMACHI AT SEKIDERA (SEKIDERA KOMACHI)

[
The stage assistants bring forward a simple construction representing a hut
with a thatched roof. It is covered with a cloth. The Old Woman is inside.
As the music begins the Child, the Abbot, and two Priests enter and
face each other onstage. The Abbot and the Priests carry rosaries. ]Three Priests

[
All kneel. A stage assistant removes the cloth around the hut, revealing
the Old Woman seated inside. Paper strips inscribed with poems hang from
the crossbars of the hut frame. The Old Woman wears the uba mask. ]Old Woman

your heart the seed and your words the blossoms, 7
if you will steep yourself in the fragrance of the art, you will not fail
to accomplish true poetry. But how praiseworthy that mere boys should cherish
a love of poetry!

From 5-7-5 to 8-8-8: An
Investigation of Japanese Haiku Metrics and Implications for English Haiku.
By Richard Gilbert and Judy Yoneoka. 136K. Refer also to other fine
scholarly articles at Quiet Site.